The Champagne Lodge & Luxury Suites — Hotel in Darien

I would start by saying that the customer service and the management were awesome- great job on that! and Thank you for trying to accommodate us during our stay. BUT: the place is in desperate need of upgrading. I would probably not go such in deep with my reviews but, during the pandemic and the slow period, there was plenty of time for these guys to consider doing some small repairs done by either professional and/or the management themselves because they would've made such a difference! The expectations have to be above average for a room that goes between $399 and $699 (add taxes to that and the not-so-small security deposit). SO: the room doesn't have a coffee maker- a very cheap, basic one would make a huge difference, it is completely inconvenient to get dressed and go to the other building so you can get a cup of coffee. The room doesn't offer complimentary plastic, basic champagne glasses, they have two you can use but you have to leave them there when you leave- I would suggest that the "one-dollar" ones would make a nice impact on your guests and would also promote the name of this place, "The Champagne Lounge". The floor is old and looks old and cheap. There's no carpet anywhere in the room, just some scratched linoleum. The furniture is old and scratched, and the couch has bold patches. There's an awkward wood bar on the floor where you can trip over and/or hurt your toes. The bathroom doesn't have a bidet, there's no new soap- just an almost used cheap liquid soap, the ironing table that hangs in there is stained and ripped. Every cheap motel you go to has complimentary soap, for the prices you pay to stay in this room is absolutely necessary to give your guests some brand new, not so expensive toiletry items. And I would make a suggestion to the management: invest in some new, WHITE towels (not the dark, almost black one you guys use). White shows that the towel is clean, fluffiness shows that the towel was washed and dried carefully. The bed frame was ripped at the corners- again, that shows a lack of interest in presenting and selling the room. The pool area had the floor fixed with silver tape, totally unappealing. The pool itself looks about as small as we saw it in the pictures, do not expect to be able to swim in it at all! It is actually like a bigger jacuzzi tub. The lights in it consist of just one light. We saw the room and decided not to use it at all and here I want to thank again to the management, who helped us without many questions to switch from the Swimming Pool Suite to the only available at that time, Premium. Premium was a little more upgraded in the bathroom, it had a bidet. The furniture looked actually better than the other suite. There were no SiriusXM channels, the only option for some music was an old CD player. The TV does not have adult channels. The jacuzzi tub was OK BUT: I would strongly recommend they completely remove the electric fireplace that stays right next to the tub! It is absolutely insane to not anticipate that someone could, by mistake, touch it, flip it over and get in in a tub filled with water! There's no secured glass or at least a grille in front of it. This is a great risk you are taking on your customers' lives! This room also doesn't have one little piece of soap, the only things they offered were a tiny bottle of shampoo, another conditioner, and a small tube of body lotion. Again: no soap! The ceiling looks like they just repaired it with over ten small patches. No complimentary plastic champagne glasses. No coffee maker in the room. We left before midnight. The only way I would recommend this place would be if they lower the prices to the point they match the quality of the room. OR, if they decide to carefully upgrade their rooms- that would be my...

I stayed here last month or so and had a really nice getaway with my girlfriend for 4 nights. Unlike most of the negative reviews I have to say the staff isn’t rude or anything and they accommodated me well.

PRO: Fairly clean (Bring your own blankets though, theirs are not the best. Same with towels, they get the job done but pretty rough) No signs of bed bugs at all Shower and tub are amazing for what they are and the price, especially the shower In room temperature control Smooth check in process and nice staff, always said hi when I passed by - housekeeping is particularly kind! Cozy atmosphere, comfortable area to smoke right outside your door (CLOSE YOUR DOOR) Robes so soft we bought a pair for $90 Clean bathroom, good flush mechanism Rooms have been updated with much larger TV’s than the website shows Plenty of stuff to do nearby (zoo, mall food etc) Cable, microwave, fridge / NO FREEZER Light controls on headboard so you don’t really ever have to get up Bidet Doordash delivers here very fast Steam room is awesome for hangovers Many of the negative reviews complaints have been addressed, most notably the showers have frosted glass vinyl on them so if your partner has to go outside nobody can just see into the room and shower Overall just a very cozy environment for two people to enjoy and lounge around

CON: You must request from the front desk if you do not want room service. If the door is unlocked the housekeepers will knock but if you don’t answer they will open the door. I only know this because I left for dinner and we returned to our room being clean (no big deal really) Hot tub is close to the bed and you can’t get the bed wet so be careful Hot tub jets function but are fairly weak in the larger tub (executive suite) The grout in the shower is dirty but that isn’t mold, it’s just dirty grout which again isn’t really a concern The mirror in the bathrooms on the wall are an odd choice, I do not enjoy looking over and seeing myself doing my business Bring your own speaker, the one they provide has no bass (be mindful of your neighbors, they will warn you if you’re too loud) I was in a room where it seemed like I was next to the water tanks so the running water was pretty loud, but this is nothing worse than sleeping with a running air conditioner or fan No rugs near the hot tub, put down towels especially if you’re drinking - it can get very slippery Bad wifi, but you don’t need wifi. Pay attention to your partner! DVD player desperately needs an upgrade to a blu ray player, we couldn’t watch our movies Bit of a drive to do anything, no bars or anything in reasonable distance aside from maybe one I noticed - so if you’re drinking you’ll have to take Ubers No freezer, we lost some food but that was our fault Breakfast is a bit of a joke, just some bagels and coffee and stuff but I didn’t come for breakfast haha

MOST of my cons are very nitpicky, and many didn’t effect my overall rating at all, a lot are just suggestions to the owner. Pros definitely weighed out the cons by far!!

P.S. I’m the one who left the note, tip, and liquor for...

I really wanted this to be a 5 star review. The only reason this review gets 3 stars from me is because of the room; definitely not because of the front desk staff or their customer service. This was the 3rd time my wife and I stayed at The Champagne Lodge. Previously, the staff was always super professional, helpful, and friendly. One weekend, for example, we booked two different rooms for our anniversary weekend. A regular whirlpool suite and a fancy pool suite, on the actual day, as a way to treat ourselves. They let us check into the pool suite on our anniversary early with no issue; I was very pleased. During this most recent stay we needed a Bluetooth speaker and Christian at the front desk let us use his until his shift ended. At that point I knew I had to jump on Yelp and give them a great review. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse. We reserved 2 pool suites for an overnight stay on Mother's Day weekend, one for us and another one for my wife's sister and her daughter. The rooms were clean and well maintained as always. Our actual stay was very pleasant; the pool suite did not disappoint!! At the Champagne Lodge we NEVER pay the room deposit with a credit card, always with cash, because it takes too long to get the money credited back. The pool suite deposits were $250 each and, as usual, we paid with cash. When we checked out on Sunday, my wife got the cash from both deposits back immediately. However later in the day, she noticed the deposits had also been charged to her credit card!! When speaking with the hotel about it, she was told it was a mistake and the money would be back in 2 days. I called and asked for the manager and ended up speaking to Christian. He acknowledge his mistake, apologized. I told him I was disappointed that we had to find out about their mistake on our own. Why couldn't we get a courtesy phone call? He said he'd send a letter that we can show our bank to waive any fees that might've occurred and possibly get the $500 back sooner. He promised the letter would be emailed to me by 9 am the next day. At 9:30 am the next day...no letter. I called the hotel and was told my call would be returned by noon. It wasn't. By 12:30, I was calling the hotel back. I was then told the letter was "unnecessary" because the money would be released the next day. However my bank said they didn't see the money being released. We waited another day and called again. this time my wife talked to "Tony" who had NO idea of the situation. Once it was explained, he sent the "unnecessary" letter to my wife's email. It took 5 days, not 2, to get the $500 returned that never should've been taken in the first place. I'm pretty sure we won't be returning to the Champagne Lodge. It's one thing to make a mistake but being rude and lying are a whole...